Which Prefecture Has The Largest Population In Japan?

 

1 The answer is…

NoteThe answer

The answer is Tokyo. As of October 1, 2024, Japan’s total population—including foreign residents—stands at 123.8 million. Out of this total, 14.18 million people (representing 11.5%) reside in Tokyo, which is designated as area code 13.

In second place is Kanagawa Prefecture (area code 14) with a population of 9.23 million, followed by Osaka Prefecture (area code 27) in third place with 8.76 million. Meanwhile, Tottori Prefecture (area code 31) has the smallest population at 530,000, which accounts for only 0.4% of Japan’s total population.

  • Time Point : As of October 1, 2024
  • By Sex : Both sexes
  • 5-year age groups : All ages
  • Nationality : Total Population
  • Unit : Thousands

1.1 Population and Percentage Distribution by Prefecture - Table

Table 1: As of October 1, 2024 - Both sexes - All ages - Total Population - Thousands
No Area code Japan and Prefectures Population Composition ratio(%)
1 - Nationwide 123,802 100.0
2 13 Tokyo 14,178 11.5
3 14 Kanagawa 9,225 7.5
4 27 Osaka 8,757 7.1
5 23 Aichi 7,460 6.0
6 11 Saitama 7,332 5.9
7 12 Chiba 6,251 5.0
8 28 Hyogo 5,337 4.3
9 40 Fukuoka 5,092 4.1
10 01 Hokkaido 5,043 4.1
11 22 Shizuoka 3,527 2.8
12 08 Ibaraki 2,806 2.3
13 34 Hiroshima 2,714 2.2
14 26 Kyoto 2,520 2.0
15 04 Miyagi 2,248 1.8
16 15 Niigata 2,099 1.7
17 20 Nagano 1,987 1.6
18 21 Gifu 1,916 1.5
19 10 Gunma 1,890 1.5
20 09 Tochigi 1,885 1.5
21 33 Okayama 1,831 1.5
22 07 Fukushima 1,743 1.4
23 24 Mie 1,711 1.4
24 43 Kumamoto 1,697 1.4
25 46 Kagoshima 1,532 1.2
26 47 Okinawa 1,466 1.2
27 25 Shiga 1,402 1.1
28 29 Nara 1,285 1.0
29 35 Yamaguchi 1,281 1.0
30 38 Ehime 1,276 1.0
31 42 Nagasaki 1,252 1.0
32 02 Aomori 1,165 0.9
33 03 Iwate 1,145 0.9
34 17 Ishikawa 1,098 0.9
35 44 Oita 1,085 0.9
36 45 Miyazaki 1,033 0.8
37 06 Yamagata 1,011 0.8
38 16 Toyama 997 0.8
39 37 Kagawa 917 0.7
40 05 Akita 897 0.7
41 30 Wakayama 880 0.7
42 19 Yamanashi 791 0.6
43 41 Saga 788 0.6
44 18 Fukui 739 0.6
45 36 Tokushima 685 0.6
46 39 Kochi 656 0.5
47 32 Shimane 642 0.5
48 31 Tottori 531 0.4

1.2 Population by Prefecture - Choropleth Map

1.2.1 Original values

Figure 1

1.2.2 Logarithmic values

Figure 2

2 Data Source

  • Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

3 Release frequency

  • Annually

4 Last updated date

Sys.time()
[1] "2026-04-04 17:38:05 JST"

6 R & Quarto

R.Version()$version.string
[1] "R version 4.5.3 Patched (2026-03-11 r89773 ucrt)"
quarto::quarto_version()
[1] '1.9.36'

7 Author